


Falling For You

by orphan_account



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, First Fight, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 12:26:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8327815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The aftermath of Holtzbert's 1st fight.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Qym](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qym/gifts).



> Qym sets my tiny gay fan heart on fire with their delicious prompts for this fandom. Thank them for it if you can't thank me for the torture I seem to put these women through.
> 
>  
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!!

_“You’re calling_ me _‘reckless’?! Are you out of your mind?”_

 

Erin had been caught off guard by the nerve of Holtzmann’s statement shortly after a bust went south, in Erin’s case _quite_ literally.

 

They’d been called to investigate multiple class-four entities haunting the Mercado where most of the specters from last year had remained heavier in numbers since Rowan let them loose on the city.

 

They’d split off into two teams – Patty and Abby and Erin and Holtzmann. They’d managed to wrangle two ghosts already and were chasing a third on the forty-second story that seemed to bounce from one object to another, faster than Erin or Holtz could get a grip on their guns – the Mayor wasn’t going to be happy with the number of expensive vases and décor they’d destroyed on the way.

 

It all happened so fast – Erin was checking out the ventilation near the window while Holtzmann jokingly sing-songed for the ghost to show itself. A crash and then a flash of green out of the corner of Erin’s eye was the last thing she could remember before the sound of glass blew through her eardrums and then she was looking up at the clear blue New York sky as she fell from the window.

 

She hadn’t even had time to scream, the air was stolen from her lungs as she squeezed her eyes shut and saw Holtzmann’s smiling face followed by images flashing of her and Abby playing cards late at night in the Firehouse or Patty lounging in the small library on the first floor that she’d deemed a _Holtzmann-Free Zone_ upon moving in.

 

The stars were on her side today however as the wind was knocked back into her lungs as she collided with the steel bottom of a scaffolding nearly thirteen-stories below and then a loud yelp and two strong hands were steadying her. A window-washer had been fast-acting enough to grab her before she slid off of the side of the still very high platform – despite the added weight of her proton pack, he managed to keep her on board as she nearly cried in relief and then Abby and Patty were yelling down at her with cheers, overjoyed to see their friend still alive. The worker was gracious enough to scale them back up to the floor to meet them.

 

Patty and Abby helped her back into the hotel area with tight hugs and claps on the back. Holtzmann, however – _well_...

 

 _“I don’t understand why you have to be so reckless, Er!”_ the blonde had seethed whipping around, her face set in an uncharacteristic scowl.

 

 _“_ Me _? Reckless? Says the woman who plays with blowtorches around dangerous nuclear equipment on a near daily basis?”_ Erin was flabbergasted, still thinking the blonde was probably joking. The scowl on her face and the unknown emotions floating behind the yellow goggles told her otherwise.

 

She then proceeded to stalk off, find the ghost and instead of trapping it – blew it into untraceable bits of ectoplasm before continuing on, ignoring the rest of the team. Erin stuck with Abby and Patty went to go join Holtzmann instead.

 

It wasn’t until all of the entities were captured in the ghost traps that Holtzmann had set that Erin had a chance to confront the engineer.

 

_“Holtz – it was an accident… Chill.”_

_“Yeah, well, maybe you should watch your back a little more carefully next time-”_ Holtz snarled, tossing her proton pack into the back of the ETCO-1 with a little more brute force than necessary.

Who was this woman and what had she done with her happy-go-lucky girlfriend? The woman who laughed in the face of danger before tearing it apart with science? The woman who had one time blasted _Madonna_ for an entire hour-long bust, hip thrusting and lip synching while taking down specters.

_“Forget it, Erin -”_ Holtzmann’s shrugged, but her shoulders were still rigid with anger, her body language tense.

_“Yo! If y’all’re finished your little lovers quarrel, we got shit to do back at the station!”_ Patty interrupted, a little curious – but also worried at the tension between her friends.

 

Erin and Holtzmann had been dating for a little over two months now and although the honeymoon phase was still strong with the two women, it was rare to see either of them argue – at least never this seriously…

 

 _“No, hold on, Patty – Holtzmann, really? You’re calling_ me _‘reckless’?! Are you out of your mind?”_

 

It escalated quickly from there.

 

* * *

 

Back at the Firehouse, the tension was so thick even Kev had caught on to not talk to Erin or high-five Holtzmann (though it did make him sad to see his H&S buddy so blue). Holtzmann had retreated to her lab and Erin found a spot at the other side of Abby’s desk since she’d moved herself into Holtzmann’s lab nearly three months after moving in – mostly because Holtzmann built a lot of what Erin would theorize and they worked well together and the attraction bit only came to fruition with the more time that they spent in one another’s personal space.

 

Patty was in her little “library” keeping silent and out of the “lesbian drama” that the two women were currently in while Abby worked on as though there was nothing out of the ordinary – although her patience was beginning to wear thin.

 

Erin had very little in the ways of her things or her research downstairs and so she fiddled with some notes on the manuscript Abby had asked her to edit in the meantime but every other minute, a frustrated sigh would escape the redhead as she forced herself to re-read another sentence over again – her concentration waning with every _clang_ or miniature ‘ _poof’_ that emitted from the upstairs lab.

 

She tapped her ballpoint pen noisily against the manuscript and tried to ignore the lack of music from the lab that usually floated through the entire Firehouse at this hour. Holtzmann was causing enough noise however, to make up for it – with excessive hammering and grunts and then minor yelps of “ _that_ definitely _shouldn’t be on fire!_ ” Nobody dared try to investigate that.

 

But after each one, Erin would look up at the hole that separated the second and first stories of the Firehouse where the brass pole stood, in a mixture of worry and anger.

 

“Ruh-roh, Astro!” Holtzmann’s voice carried and then another minor _BANG_ sounded from the second story and Erin jumped up, ready to run to her girlfriends’ aid before realizing that she was still supposed to be angry with the blonde and flopped back down.

 

Upon doing so though, her outstretched arm knocked over Abby’s favorite science mug and it hit the concrete with a smash of ceramic shards and cold coffee staining the concrete floor.

 

“Oh, _shoot_! Abby, I’m-”

 

“That. Is. _IT!_ ” Abby growled, pinching the bridge of her nose as she began doing a remarkable impression of a tomato. “I don’t care _what_ sort of lovers spat this is – you need to go up there and fix it! _Now!_ ”

 

“ _Me?_ She’s the one-”

 

“ _Erin Renée Gilbert!_ ”

 

Erin’s jaw snapped shut when Abby sent her a death glare cold enough to turn her blood to ice. She hadn’t seen this level of anger directed at her since before they reunited and there was no way Erin would face her wrath on top of Holtzmann’s.

 

The physicist nodded, swallowing her pride and pitifully made her way toward the stairwell, pausing only before the first floor disappeared from her view to look back at Abby, who was still watching her with that hawk-like glare and Patty was shaking her head and muttering something about “crazy white girls” under her breath, eyes still glued to her thick text.

 

“Go.” Abby snapped, a bit softer but still with the same forceful tone from before.

 

Erin finished her trek to the second floor without further hesitation but as soon as she reached it, she paused, uncertain what to do next.

 

Holtzmann wasn’t in her immediate view – most likely working behind one of the containment units. Erin was tempted to just keep marching up the stairs to the third floor, maybe even the roof, and just ignore Holtzmann until the blonde decided to apologize – after all, none of what had happened today had been _her_ fault.

 

_Right?_

 

“Holtzmann?” Erin chirped out pathetically. The least she could do was ask the blonde for an apology if she wasn’t going to make the effort herself.

 

No response.

 

In most cases, _most_ people would thing that they were being ignored, dismissed or that they weren’t heard – but in the land of Holtzmann, silence was worse than the explosions that she often caused.

 

“Holtz?” Erin’s voice hitched in slight panic as she wandered through the lab, worried now if the blonde was all right after that last explosion.

 

“ _Holtzmann!_ ” Erin shouted, not caring that her voice sounded shaky. Then she heard it; choked coughs coming from her left. She rounded a super-generator where Holtzmann was crouched over a slightly charred and still smoking ( _what looked to be_ ) particle accelerator on her workbench, now coated completely in white foam from the fire extinguisher in Holtzmann’s hand.

 

Scorch marks lined the table around the machine and some of the black dust settled against Holtzmann’s jacket and face, her hair wilder than normal.

 

“ _Holtz_! Are you all right?” Anger set aside as instinct took over and Erin approached her girlfriend, grabbing and turning her around in her arms, scanning for any sign of wounds that she may have inflicted upon herself.

 

“Yeah…” Holtz wheezed. “Damn hadronic calorimeter got overheated in the accelerator – I must’ve overestimated the electromagnetic field…”

 

Holtz paused to cough and then glanced down at Erin’s hands that were gently rubbing up and down Holtzmann’s biceps – a calming habit mechanism the blonde had noticed Erin would do whenever she was worried about the other woman and the blonde found it particularly endearing that Erin only did that with _her_.

 

The physicist realized too late what she was doing and dropped her hands to her side, then crossed them in front of her, pulling a stoic face as if she just remembered that they were fighting.

 

“Good – I’m… glad,” Erin said, stiffly.

 

“What’re you doing up here, anyway?” Holtzmann winced at how it sounded and shook her head. “I mean – you’re welcome anytime… I know I was an asshole earlier-”

 

“You think?” Erin snapped, but loosened up at the hurt that flashed across the blonde’s face. Her shoulders sagged.

 

_Damnit, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go…_

 

Erin sighed, rubbing her hand across her forehead as she felt an overwhelming need to just curl up in her girlfriends’ arms and hold her and be held – she needed to be strong though and most importantly _understand_ what the blonde was thinking.

 

“Why are we fighting? I mean – I know why _I’m_ mad… but-” Erin trailed off as she noticed Holtzmann take off her glasses and wipe at her eyes – wait…

 

Was she _crying_?

 

“I-I don’t know…” Holtzmann sniffled. “I just – _fuck,_ Erin. You _frightened_ me today.”

 

Erin opened her mouth to argue but noticed that Holtzmann was shuffling, a tick of hers that told Erin – after knowing the blonde for close to a year – to be patient, because the blonde was struggling to process her emotions so they could come out right. So she could help Erin _understand_.

 

“You – the ghost and then there was that window and all I could hear was your scream… my heart _stopped_ and suddenly I couldn’t think of anything but – but your _funeral_ – of meeting your parents. For the first time at it. And hav-having Abby and everyone blame _me_ because -” Erin choked as she felt her heart squeeze painfully in her chest, as if in a vice.

 

The emotions from falling earlier were still pretty raw – and at the time she’d been so hyped on adrenaline that she didn’t think about the fact that had that scaffolding not been there it was a certainty that Erin wouldn’t be standing across from Holtzmann right now.

 

The panic and fear that settled uneasy in the pit of her stomach curdled like bad milk and she felt as though she might be sick to have thought that Holtzmann hadn’t been affected by it – Hell, Erin hadn’t even thought twice after the elation of realizing she’d survived had worn off.

 

And Holtzmann – _oh, Jillian_ – Erin couldn’t imagine what torture the blonde’s mind must be playing on her as she stood there with tears overflowing her eyes as she spoke, words stilted much like they got whenever the woman got emotional.

 

“I know – I should have been there… you shouldn’t have fallen and I should have been paying closer attention and I know – we risk our lives and I do, too. Every day. But the thought of not being with you – that you didn’t even know how much I love you – it made me so scared and I didn’t-”

 

Erin’s breath caught at those three magic words. Suddenly the rest was garbled.

 

 _I love you_.

 

They’d not said those words to each other yet. And with the way Holtzmann was continuing to ramble on, she doubted the blonde had even realized she’d said them.

 

 _I love you_.

 

“And you were gone so quick – I couldn’t even get to the window. I just froze and stayed there until Abby and Patty saw – and you were on your way back up. I hated myself for… for not being -”

 

 _I love you_.

 

“I love you, Holtzmann,” Erin found her voice. Tears were falling from her eyes, no doubt running her mascara and making her look like a raccoon. But she didn’t care.

 

Holtzmann finally shut up at that and stared – slack-jawed and wide-eyed – at Erin’s confession.

 

Erin stepped closer, until they were basically sharing the same air, both women’s faces were tear-stained and Holtzmann hadn’t blinked in nearly a minute.

 

“ _I love you_ , Holtzmann, I love you _so_ much and I’m so sorry that you were scared – it breaks my heart.”

 

“N-no, you – you shouldn’t be,” Holtzmann blinked and the unknown emotion that Erin had witnessed earlier that she finally recognized: _sheer terror_. “You can’t – I was bad… I didn’t have your back and I-”

 

“ _Jillian_ ,” Erin grabbed her girlfriend tightly around the waist, not allowing her to run. “I’m in this – I’m _in love_ with you and I know that you were scared – but don’t run from me, if anything just be here with me… love me.”

 

“I do,” Holtzmann breathed, choking on her own tears. “I _do_ love you and if I were to be the reason you’d died _-_ ”

 

“It’s bad science to focus on the _what-if’s_ , Holtzmann,” Erin kissed Holtz cheek, tasting the salt and the faint hint of sulfur. “I’m here…” she pressed a tender, butterfly kiss Holtzmann’s forehead. “We’re together.” Her nose. “We’re alive.” Her left and then her right eyebrows. “And I love you.”

 

“Erin…” Holtzmann’s voice cracked and then wavered. Erin shushed her with a kiss, this time pressed to her trembling lips. Softly, delicately. Just a press of skin to skin and nothing more.

 

It was probably the most tender either woman had ever been with the other and Erin sighed into the kiss when Holtzmann finally let go and wrapped her arms around Erin, melting into the embrace.

 

When they broke apart, Holtzmann rested her forehead against Erin’s, keeping her eyes closed but her lips finally turned up into a gentle smile. They stayed like that for possibly hours, before eventually abandoning the lab in favor of Erin’s bedroom (it was closest) and spent time just getting reacquainted with one another’s bodies and memorizing each little detail as Erin nuzzled into Holtzmann’s collarbone when they finished.

 

“Even if tomorrow doesn’t come – I couldn’t be happier with where we’re at right now,” Erin sighed, listening to Holtzmann’s heart beat beneath her breast and Holtzmann pressed a kiss into the crown of Erin’s hair. The redhead didn’t need to look up to know that the engineer was smiling.

 

-FIN-

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews are like warm hugs - I love them. Please share the love?


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